The War Within by Stephen R. Donaldson

Author:Stephen R. Donaldson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

The first officer knew his moment. After all, Queen Estie was not the first Amikan monarch he had obeyed. Returning to the platform, he quieted the men. In his stentorian voice, he told them to be fully supplied and ready for more explicit orders by dawn. Then he dismissed them.

Some of the guardsmen ran: those with families, perhaps, or those who had left too many duties or women unattended. Others moved away in small groups, talking among themselves; trying, no doubt, to guess what would be asked of them.

While the throng of Amikans thinned away to nothing, sub-Commander Waysel and sub-Commander Hellick came forward to join Soulcess and Queen Estie behind the platform. Estie looked for Crayn, but he and his men had left the parade ground with the others. They already had their orders.

She was in a hurry now; on the edge of a kind of nervous exhaustion. She did not wait for questions or offer to repeat herself.

“Sub-Commander Waysel,” she began, “yours is an escort duty. The Chancellor will give the necessary orders when Commander Soulcess has told him what we do. You will take our first delivery of cannon, shot, and gunpowder into Belleger.”

Before Waysel could open his mouth, the Queen explained, “You may think that forty men are too many for your task. But you will not take the wagons and their cargo to Belleger’s Fist. You will deliver them to the Bay of Lights, where Commander Forguile and Captain Flisk require them. And when you arrive, you will help with their emplacement. Forty men will seem too few, but I cannot spare more.”

If she did not entirely share King Bifalt’s obsession with fortifying the coast, she supported it nonetheless.

While sub-Commander Waysel chewed on her instructions, considering their implications, Estie turned to Hellick.

“At dawn, sub-Commander, you will take your men eastward along my road. And you will ride hard.” She clenched her fists to steady herself. “I have heard rumors of slavery among the teams of laborers. Slavery, sir. Nuuri slaves.” She did not believe that any of her honor guard would desert in order to warn King Smegin. Not now. But on this point, she did not care if anyone reported to her father. She felt sure that sending slaves to work on her road was a small detail in King Smegin’s larger designs. “It is a great crime, sub-Commander, and you will end it. You will deal with the slavers and care for the slaves.

“You also may think that forty men are too many. But I do not know how many slavers there are, or how well they fight, or how much support they can summon. I rely on you to carry out my orders.”

Before either officer could ask the obvious questions, she dismissed them. They knew enough. She did not want them to know more. Nineteen guardsmen had already deserted. Despite her confidence, others might be tempted. For her own protection, as well as for the safety of the soldiers who

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